Friday, July 30, 2010

Rape Culture 101 -- The Virus of Radical Feminism

by Connie Chastain*

Okay, I know--and will say right up front--that it's a stretch to compare feminism to a virus, particularly the one I have in mind, although there are some parallels. But I'm not the first or only one to make such a comparison, as a Google search confirms.

David Horowitz, writer and publisher, a leftist turned rightwinger, has compared the entire cultural and political left, including one if its subsets, radical feminism, to a virus. If Horowitz has a specific virus in mind, he doesn't name it. He does descibe its effects: "...a virus that attacks [the left's] brain cells and makes it incapable of ingesting real world facts and consequently of arriving at reasonable judgments."

I do have a specific virus in mind for my comparison--the rabies virus--because I've recently had reason to do a lot of Internet reading about it.

Several days ago a semi-stray cat bit me. (Story here: http://www.conniechastain.blogspot.com/) I have no access to his vaccination record, don't even know if he has one. So I read about rabies on the Center for Disease Control's website, and my county health department's website. While determining how I needed to respond to the bite (and following those instructions, and the advice of my doctor), I read other things about rabies.

Viruses can do nothing on their own--can't eat, can't grow, can't reproduce. They need a host for that. Most viruses are benevolent, as far as mankind is concerned. Indeed, life could not exist without them. But a very few have extremely malignant effects on their hosts. One of them is the rabies virus. Though other viruses far kill more people around the world, rabies carries its own special kind of horror.

This virus is so devastating because it attacks the central nervous system--spine and brain--the master controller of every physical thing we do, the determiner of our thought, reason, emotion, self-concept. The destruction of brain cells by the virus visits upon the victim some of the most horrifying pathologies known to man. Moreover, while rabies can easily be prevented, it cannot be cured. Once symptoms manifest, death--a horrible one, if palliative care is not available--is inevitable.

The rabies virus enters the body through a bite wound. For days, weeks, or months, it makes its way thoughtout the nervous system, remaining symptomless, until it reaches the brain. Then, symptoms appear. (Symptoms of rabies. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabies#Signs_and_symptoms)

If we consider radical feminism to be a virus that infects a culture or society, are we starting to see a glimmer of the parallels here? I think so, although every analogy breaks down at some point.

Consider the type and quantity of destructive change that has come to society through the work of relatively few feminist activists. The "bite" could be likened to creating in women an overwhelmining dissatisfaction with being wives and mothers (Friedan's The Feminine Mystique), the increase of coeds in colleges and universities and the prevalence of women's studies on campuses.

Through feminist-influenced graduates, the indoctrination then branches out from university campuses into government, the courts, corporations and business, law, medicine, the news and entertainment media, the popular culture, even the military and religion. In short, every aspect of culture. It invades and reshapes the very things that determines, on a societal level, who and what we are. Unlike the rabies virus, which is basically a thing with no will or intent, the radfem virus attacks society knowingly and with intent.

Because so much of what feminism seeks to change is essential to human existence, there's bound to be monumental and devastating affects on the culture, such as:

1- rejection of the sex roles of men and women which are fundamental to individuals and society;

2- the undermining of the stability of the family, the foundation on which all society rests;

3- the shunting aside of men and boys (on whom societal survival depends) in favor to making girls "feel better";

4- the demonization (or dumb-ination) of men in the popular culture;

5- the invention of "rape culture" and perpetration of false rape claims against men;

6- the astronomical dropout rates, drug use and criminal activity among fatherless children....

I could go on, but readers of this blog no doubt are well acquainted with symptoms of the radfem virus on our culture.

The question now arises--can our culture's immune system fight off the virulent attack of feminism? Or do these societal symptoms mean we've reached the point of no return?

*Connie is a member of the FRS team. Her weekly essays appear every Friday. Her personal blog ishttp://conniechastain.blogspot.com/